The present invention relates to lamps used on motor vehicles having brackets for shock isolating the light bulb, and more particularly to an electrically conductive shock mounting bracket, a lamp having such a bracket, and a blank from which such a bracket is made.
Various different lamps, such as stop, turn, and tail lamps, used on motor vehicles are subjected to vibrations and shock loads as the vehicles are driven. The shock loads and vibrations are transmitted to the lamps mounted on the vehicle and are one cause of shortened light bulb life.
There have been many proposals for isolating light bulbs from vibrations and shock loads. The following U.S. Patents illustrate various prior proposals for shock mounting older conventional light bulbs having a screw or bayonette base: U.S. Pat. No. 3,067,326 issued on Dec. 4, 1962 to G.A. Knapp; U.S. Pat. No. RE. 30,498 reissued on Jan. 27, 1981 to George D. Baldwin; U.S. Pat. No. 4,176,391 issued on Nov. 27, 1979 to Geroge J. Kulik; U.S. Pat. No. 4,231,081 issued Oct. 28, 1980 to Joseph V. Borruso; U.S. Pat. No. 4,282,566 issued on Aug. 4, 1981 to Charles J. Newman; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,390,936 issued on June 28, 1983 to Charles A. Slater.
More recently, so-called baseless cartridge light bulbs have been used in place of the older bulbs having a screw-type or bayonet-type mounting base. One such typical baseless cartridge light bulb is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,061,940 issued on Dec. 6, 1977 to Wagner Electric Corp. Typical baseless cartridge light bulbs include a cylindrical glass envelope with opposite reduced or flattened ends. Electrical resistance filaments extend through the glass envelope with filament pins at the opposite ends of the envelope to be connected by wires to a source of electrical energy. U.S. Pat. No. 4,437,145 which issued on May 13, 1984 to Philip C. Roller features one proposal for shock mounting such a baseless cartridge bulk in a lamp housing.
The present invention provides a shock absorbing mounting bracket particularly well suited for mounting a baseless-type light bulb which is electrically conductive eliminating the need for separate electrical wires.
The present invention also provides a blank from which the novel shock absorbing mounting bracket is made.
The present invention further provides a lamp assembly incorporating the novel shock absorbing mounting bracket wherein the baseless-type bulb is oriented to take advantage of its filament column strength.